Im building a M48A3 Patton I'm just wondering if any of you have any techniques for painting road wheels. I usually use a brush on my M113's but there is not as many road wheels. If there is faster way i would like to know.

Hello pfc. First i like to paint the rubber on first, once dry i use this template which can be bought at any arts and crafts store. I lay the template over the roasd wheel and air brush in the centers. when your done just wipe up w/ a cleaner or thinner.

Thanks for the tip mother. How do you hold on to them while painting.

I'ts kinda hard to explain, well i place the template over the wheel like this,

A couple of tip for this method which make clean up a bit easier..

#1 I mask off the surronding circles with a bit of masking tape..

#2 every now and then I stop and wipe the paint buildup off the template with the approiate thinner...

#3 I wear a laytex glove on the hand holding the parts..

I highly recommend this method as its the best way to airbrush wheels and road wheels that i've tried.

:-)

Another way I've used (I just asked the same question over the weekend and got several replies), is to paint the center OD, then place a washer, with a piece of tape over the center, then paint the rest of the wheel black. I was lucky enough to find washers that fit the road wheels on a Pershing, Chaffee and M18 Hellcat. I'm doing a Walker Bulldog now and can't find any washers to fit, so I'm using the circle template mentioned aabve to do them.

Thanks guys, I appreciate the tips will try them all and if i find a better way i will share it.

Howdy pfc,

Just my two-bits....

I also use the method just wonderfully described by our good mother (no, not our actual mother ). Meaning, I use a drafter's circle template to paint my road wheels. Whether they be regular softskin wheels with tyres mounted, or AFV road wheels. The only additional pointer I will suggest is instead of holding the road wheel like mother is in the photo (he probably has a steadier hand than I), I place a length of 2" wide masking tape with the adhesive side facing up, and lay a strip of 3/4" maksing tape at either end to hold it down and flat to the table surface forming a kind of an elongated 'H' shape.
I then place all, or most of my road wheels down onto the masking tape all in a neat, evenly spaced row. The masking tape's adhesive holds the road wheels from going anywhere, and the even spacing gives me a predictable pattern when timing my airbrush 'spritz's'......
To avoid having to do much clean-up, turn the airbrush pressure down low, and just give each road wheel a quick 'spritz' of the desired colour. Using acrylic the little bit of paint that you 'spritz' on will dry almost instantaneously. Then go back and hit them again in a minute or two. Allow to dry and Voila!!...you've got superbly painted road wheels, no matter how many of them you have.

hope that helps.

Tread.

i had a lot of trouble with my wheels trying to get the lines right, but next time i'll use some of the tips here and i'm sure it will make my wheels come out much better. thanks!

Great ideas you guys got there!!!!! I've been painting the things freehand all this time! Looks like my wheels will end up a heck of alot nicer now

My technique is a bit different.
First, I cut off the section of sprue with the wheel parts on it, and spray the unassembled wheel parts the color I want them, usually a green or sand color.
Once the paint is completely dry, I cut the wheel parts from the sprue, and assemble the wheels.
After the glue has dried, I put a 6 inch piece of dowel into the axle hole so I can hold and turn each wheel without actually touching it.
I then use a black indelible marker to "paint" the edges of the wheel. The marker doesn't drip, and the pointed tip gives a nice smooth line along the outside lip of the wheel, while the broader side of the marker easily covers the flat edge.
Once the wheels are dry, I spray them with Future before putting them on the tank for weathering.

Cool Idea Mother. Think I'll try it.

And you know, you should always listen to Mother.

I tend to color the wheel the base color and then use the marker method.

I use the same method as mother, what I do is spray the full wheel the colour of the tyre this also serves as a pre-shade for the rest of the wheel. By using the template method you'll find that you can do a full set of wheels in a very short period of time

Hi.. I'd discovered this method quite by mistake.

I'd spilled some black paint on the newspaper covered table whilst painting the roadwheels. One of the roadwheels came to rest on top of the black paint pool face down.

When I picked it up, the front surface of the roadwheel was neatly covered with black... just had to touch up with a small brush and I was done.

Cheers!

I got a bunch of tires around here waiting for an air brush to finish my models, so all my tires are in limbo, and in the meantime I have been trying different ways to see if a like a color better, if not, I put them in a container with oven cleaner then start over.

Well it started out just a couple tires a day, then when I got my confidence up, and that was all it was, I was just afraid of screwing up. After I got that behind me.

I could hand brush all the tires for 8 vehicles one side, in just minutes, by putting a object the size of the hole then spinning it around holding the brush still, and bringing the wheel to the brush, and when the brush would run low, I would stop, and refill, then position my hand again, then start spinning the wheel again.

This works fine for me, I hope it is able to help you.
Kerry